PATRICK MARMION first night review: Superstar Cynthia gets her teeth into wickedly good Dracula

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Dracula – Noel Coward Theatre, London  

No matter what you think of the modern, technologically advanced take on the Dracula story, Cynthia Erivo consistently delivers a compelling and often villainous performance.

The petite, 5-foot-1 actress quickly became famous after appearing in the Wicked movies, where she acted with singer Ariana Grande.

This one-woman show is simply fantastic – wickedly good, wickedly exciting, and even a little bit spooky. It’s a truly powerful performance.

In a remarkable two-hour and five-minute performance – without a break – she portrays all 23 characters from Bram Stoker’s classic Gothic horror novel.

This ambitious project was created and led by Australian director Kip Williams, known for his innovative ‘cine-theatre’ style. In 2024, he used a similar approach with both Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray and a production featuring Sarah Snook from Succession.

The stage is empty at first, then Cynthia Erivo enters. A live camera feed projects her image onto a large screen above, immediately captivating the audience. She moves like a spectral Dracula, appearing trapped and struggling against an unseen force, much like a moth pinned to a wall.

Oh my gosh, you won’t BELIEVE it! It all starts when Jonathan Harker – sweet, naive Jonathan – goes to Transylvania. He’s just a solicitor, you see, sent to Dracula’s castle to handle some property stuff. It’s so chilling, knowing what’s waiting for him… I’ve read it a million times and it still gives me goosebumps!

Now, footage of Erivo wearing different historical costumes is blended with live-action shots, and even more screens appear on display.

Harker is tormented by Dracula’s female vampire companions, and Dracula himself is seen scaling the castle walls. In a bizarre turn, he then appears wearing a bright pink wig and elaborate fake nails, but strangely, his reflection doesn’t show up in the mirror.

Up until now, I’ve been following Erivo’s portrayal of Jonathan Harker’s terrifying experiences with the supernatural, as he wrote letters to his worried fiancée, Mina, while away from home.

For me, the play began to lose its way when Mina’s friend and her three potential husbands were introduced in Whitby. One of them manages an asylum where a patient from Ireland, who eats spiders for energy, is kept. At this point, the intricate details of Stoker’s story started to overwhelm the already complex staging of the play.

Cynthia Erivo is still incredibly impressive, even though she had trouble mastering the Irish and Yorkshire accents required for the role. She eventually dropped the accent work altogether for her portrayal of Van Helsing, a vampire hunter who resembles Christopher Lee’s Saruman from The Lord of the Rings.

The actress brings a Nigerian accent to the role of the Count, which works well and adds a unique, mystical element to the Dracula story. She powerfully sings throughout the performance, clearly trying to maintain a lively pace and keep the show moving.

Honestly, I’m overwhelmed! There’s just SO much happening – stake attacks in graveyards, and now coffins washing up from the sea?! I can barely keep up with everything, it’s amazing and terrifying all at once!

Audiences likely won’t mind this. In fact, two hours with Erivo might not be enough – she’s striking with her tattoos and piercings. She undeniably commands attention and creates a captivating presence whenever she performs.

She’s an incredibly versatile performer, shifting effortlessly between calm, playful, intense, and powerful. Having won a Tony Award for her role in The Colour Purple, she delivers a poignant and soulful rendition of a Clemence Williams song with a beautifully understated grace.

Her athletic performances are enhanced by a dramatic soundtrack featuring a wide range of music, from classical pieces like Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker and Chopin, to artists like Bjork and even some electronic dance music.

This show is incredibly complex and ambitious, pushing the boundaries of what you see and hear. However, it lacks genuine suspense because the overall story is fairly predictable.

But I still find myself tipping my pointy hat to Erivo. Perhaps out of a sense of kinship.

Really, theatre critics aren’t that different from Dracula: we’re like creatures who feed off of others and only appear when the show begins.

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2026-02-18 03:05